Altcoins are joining the cryptocurrency market rally. Amid this upward price movement, 21Shares has focused on two competing assets, Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL). In a post on X, the financial institution offered a crucial analysis of the two, maintaining that ETH has potential for a massive breakout.
Ethereum infrastructure will support growth over Solana
According to 21Shares, Ethereum is setting the stage for a huge comeback driven by its recent tech upgrades and institutional adoption. It believes that Ethereum has improved in terms of utility and is ready for a huge resurgence in the crypto space.
The financial institution maintains that the second half of 2025 will be dominated by crypto assets that have built something and are scaling in terms of infrastructure. 21Shares is suggesting that utility for the future of Web3 and crypto might play a crucial role in determining the performance outlook.
Solana’s explosive growth might steal the spotlight, but @ethereum’s comeback story is just heating up.@MattMena__ from our research team breaks down why ETH’s latest upgrade could reshape the smart contract race in 2025.
📊 Full blog on our website:https://t.co/Scl3502VeE pic.twitter.com/B2375lAozZ
— 21Shares (@21Shares) July 12, 2025
It acknowledged that the smart contract race is heating up between Ethereum and Solana, but the latter might come out ahead.
Notably, Solana remains a blockchain favored by investors and developers because it is fast, has higher throughput, and has undergone a couple of network upgrades. For instance, earlier in the year, the network’s Firedancer upgrade boosted speed, while Alpenglow reduced transaction wait time.
In 21Shares’ estimation, despite grabbing attention with these improvements, Solana might not match up to Ethereum in the long run.
Ethereum’s price outlook
In the crypto market, Ethereum, within the last 24 hours, peaked at $3,010.35. However, a couple of factors have impacted the price within this time frame. Some investors have decided to cash in and take profit after the coin gained over 17% in the last week.
Additionally, the Ethereum Foundation has been engaging in over-the-counter (OTC) sales, coupled with overbought technicalities.
As of press time, Ethereum was exchanging at $2,937.22, representing a 1.39% decline in the last 24 hours. Volume has also plunged by 41.3% to $24.23 billion.
